Travel advice

Travelling by car

Oxford is a small city with many traffic restrictions and parking is limited. If at all possible, please do not drive into the city centre. We recommend that you use the Park & Ride system.

If driving into Oxford cannot be avoided, please refer to up-to-date traffic information for details of all local road works and advance notice of any disruptions. Please note that there is no visitors' parking available at colleges or University buildings (unless you are a Blue Badge holder).

If you are travelling by car, please be aware that the A420 to the west of the city, on Botley road, is currently closed to traffic while maintenance on a railway bridge is carried out. You will not be able to travel via this route by car, so please plan an alternative route. 

Oxford City Council has some advice about parking in the city for visitors with disabilities.

Park & Ride

We recommend using one of the following four Park & Rides conveniently located on the outskirts of Oxford. 

Please follow the links below for full details:

Please be aware that due to maintenance taking place elsewhere in Oxford, the Park & Rides are likely to be extremely busy. We recommend arriving early.

There will be additional services running on the Open Days, although please be aware that some Park & Ride services on these days will operate as express services to the city centre. 

*Resurfacing works taking place at Thornhill Park & Ride mean that parking capacity is limited, with visitors encouraged to use another site where possible.

Paying for parking:

You will need to pay a parking charge when you park at a Park & Ride. The standard parking charge is £2 per vehicle (up to 16 hours) and £4 per vehicle (up to 24 hours). You can pay by cash at designated parking ticket machines.

You can also pre-pay using RingGo for Redbridge, Thornhill, and Pear Tree Park & Rides.

We strongly advise you to pay in advance to avoid lengthy queues at the ticket machines.

View a pdf version of the map. 

Paying for the Park & Ride bus:

You will need to buy a return bus ticket to and from Oxford city centre. You can pay by cash or contactless on the bus. A peak adult day return ticket costs £5 for two adults travelling together. Up to 3 under 16s can travel free when accompanied by at least one fare paying adult.

There is also a Freeflow system that allows you to 'tap on' the driver ticket machine at the start of each journey  and 'tap off' at the end of each journey using a contactless payment method.

How to pay for a combined ticket:

A combined parking and bus ticket is available to purchase at specific combined ticket machines at each Park & Ride. The cost of a combined ticket is £6.80 and covers two adults and three Under 16s. Combined tickets can only be purchased on the day.

School groups travelling by coach or mini-bus

There is no general coach parking in Oxford city centre, so if you are travelling with a large group of students, we recommend dropping them in the city centre and parking at Redbridge, which offers parking for coaches and mini-buses.

On-street pick-up and drop-off points are provided by Oxfordshire County Council at the following locations:

• St Aldate's South (northbound) - just south of the Combined Court OX11TL
• Beaumont Street (westbound) - just outside the Playhouse OX1 2LW
• St Giles' (northbound) - in the lay-by by the Taylorian OX1 3NA

Travelling by coach

Travelling around Oxford